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SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD 



A FAST DAY SERMON 



DELIVERED IN THE 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



LOUISVILLE, 



ON FRIDAY, MAY 14tli, 1841, 



BY W. L. BRECKINRIDGE, 



PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATION. 



LOUISVILLE: 
]\TORTON Sj. oris W old 

1841. 



TO THE LADIES 



OF THE 



LOUISVILLE PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 

The following discourse was prepared very hastily, in 
a feeble stale of health, under the pressure of onerous du- 
ties, and without the slightest expectation that it would ever 
assume any other form. But such wishes, as it would not 
be proper to resist, have been expressed for its publication. 
I beg permission to put it forth under the sanction of your 
name. It may save it from a scrutiny, which, I am con- 
scious its execution cannot bear, although I think its 
sentiments may all be defended. It is proper too, that the 
pecuniary avails of such labors should be placed at your 
disposal, since the Fast, which God has chosen, implies "that 
thou deal thy bread to the hungry, wdien thou seest the naked 
that thou cover him, and that thou bring the poor that are 
cast out to thy house." 

W. L. B. 



Assembled, as we are, at the request of the Chief Mag- 
istrate of the country, it is proper for us to recur to the 
terms in which he has invited us to the services of this 
interesting occasion. You will allow me, then, to read the 
President's " Recommendation to the People of the United 
States. " 

" When a christian people feel themselves to be overtaken 
" by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble 
" themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, 
" to recognize His righteous government over the children 
" of men, to acknowledge his goodness in time past, as 
" well as their own unworthiriess, and to supplicate His 
" merciful protection for the future. 

" The death of William Henry Harrison, late President 
" of the United States, so soon after his elevation to that 
" high office, is a bereavement peculiarly calculated to be 
" regarded as a heavy affliction, and to impress all minds 
" with a sense of the uncertainty of human things, and of 
" the dependence of nations, as well as of individuals, upon 
*' our Heavenly Parent. 

" I have thought, therefore, that I should be acting in 
*' conformity with the general expectation and feelings of the 
" community, in recommending, as I now do, to the people of 
^' the United States, of every religious denomination, that, 
" according to their several modes and forms of worship, 
" they observe a day of fasting and prayer, by such re- 
" ligious services as may be suitable on the occasion ; and 
" I recommend Friday, the fourteenth day of May next, for 



" that purpose : to the end that, on that day, we may 
" all, with one accord, join in humble and reverential ap- 
" proach to Him, in whose hands we are, invoking Him to 
" inspire us with a proper spirit and temper of heart and 
*' mind, under these frowns of His Providence, and still to 
" bestow his gracious benedictions upon our Government 
*' and our country." 

There is something not only impressive, but I think truly 
great, in the conception of national grief — a whole people 
mourning. The tears of a single individual are afl^ecting. 
We cannot v/itness, without deep emotion, the sorrow of a 
family, all its m.embers mingling their sighs and tears to- 
gether. The heart could scarce bear to behold the grief 
of a whole city, and hear the lamiOntations of every citizen 
and every family rising in one groan to Heaven. But when 
these swell into the v/aiiings of a nation, the sound is like 
the voice of God's thunder. The tenderness of the impres- 
sion is, in a m.easure, lost in its grandeur. That giddy, 
weakening, heartsick anguish, v/ith which we heard of the 
nation's loss, is, in some sense, forgotten. The hearts of the 
people are stiil sad, and long they v/ill be so — but the very 
conception of this great nation giving utterance with one 
voice to that sadness, is a mighty sluice to let it off. It is 
a great outlet, while it is a sublime expression, of the nation^'s 
grief. And it shows a great spirit in our Chief Magistrate 
and his immediate advisers, and a just and noble confidence 
in the greatness of the national heart, that they have called 
the people to the exercises of this da}/. I speak not now 
of pietv. But thev take larcre views of men and of thinefs 
and they presume ihat the people do, or we had receive! no 



such recommendation, as that which has convened us ihi.'i 
morning. I trust that no one here will deem me to be 
treading on forbidden ground, or advancing an improper 
sentiment, when I say that this is an auspicious omen of a 
generous, wise and prosperous administration of our affairs 
— for they only are worthy or fit to guide the interests of 
a great people, who can themselves take large viev/s, and 
who are not afraid to trust the people to respond to them. 
Although so much has been said, wdthin the last few 
weeks, both in the public prints, and in every private circle, 
of the character of our late honored Chief Magistrate, and 
of the events which may spring from his death, these themes 
are too full of interest to have become at all tedious to you. 
On this account merely you would not forbid me to speak 
of them to-day. But upon higher considerations, they are 
excluded from the place and the occasion. I am not the 
person, nor is this the time, to pronounce his eulogy, and, 
although under other circumstances, you would delight to 
hear it, its utterance is needless. His name, a name for 
two centuries sacred to liberty,* identified in both hernis- 



* "And truly it is a name strongly linked vvitli liberty, and witli some of the 
grandest movements of mankind. To us, the two public documents, (after 
Magna Charta,) that most illustriously exhibit the sovereij^nty of right, are' 
the warrant for the execution of Charles Stuart, the first king of England of 
his name, and the Declaration of Independence, against George Guelph, the 
third of his name. The former embodies the sentiments of a great, just and 
free people, vindicating their recovered liberty by the judicial condemnation 
of a bloody and perfidious tyrant — the latter sets forth, in a unanimous legis- 
lative rejection of another tyrant by a people resolved to be free, the clear 
and elevated principle on which the independence of states reposes. There 



pheres with its noblest struggles, is engraved upon the hearts 
of his countrymen. His memory needs no other monument 
— 'tis embalmed in the bosoms of men, and will live till the 
history and institutions of his country are forgotten. 

Nor must I speak of pohtical events and prospects, es- 
pecially as connected with the interests and schemes of par- 
ties. We are all Americans. To-day, at least, we must 
all be brothers. If it became me to discuss such subjects 
on any occasion, it could not on this. If I understood them 
ever so well, to-day my tongue would refuse the office. We 
have higher objects before us. The concussion of parties, 
even the purest aims of patriots, and the best principles of 
statesmen, do not reach us here. We come to worship 
God, and, while we stand in awe of his power, and tremble 
before his judgments, to preach the gospel of his grace and 
love. 

But first there are two sentiments which I cannot repress. 
If you do not approve them, you will, at least, pardon the 
freedom with which I utter them. I know not how it strikes 
other minds, but for myself, I cannot bear that the Presi- 
dent's dust should be taken from the capitol. The seat of 
our national government has been consecrated oftentimes, 
and abundantly, thank God, by noble efforts of genius, wis- 

is but one name common to these two glorious instruments. It is the NAME 
OF Harrison! Harrison, the regicide, — and Harrison, the signer of the De- 
claration of Independence, — and Harrison, the leader of the remarkable polit- 
ical revolution of our own day. It is the same name, the same family from 
father to son in direct descent, the same remarkable and unique association 
•with the vast movements of the people, the vast ideas of generations!"— 
Bait. Lit. cf- Rel. Mag. 



9 

dom and patriotism, but never before by the work of deatii, 
the very act of God, upon the person of the Chief Magis- 
trate. These ashes are ours — they belong to all the peo- 
ple. The spirit has gone to its great account, I trust to a 
blessed recompense. It is God's. But what remains is ours. 
That, too, God will one day claim, and if the soul be now 
with Him, He will, in the end, clothe the body too with the 
brightness of light ; for you know, my brethren, that of each 
one of the saints it is promised, that He shall "change our 
vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious 
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to 
subdue all things unto himself." But, in the mean time, let it 
rest where his countrymen have laid it with so many sighs 
and tears. It will breathe a fragrance around the spot that 
will doubly hallow it. It will help to purify and elevate the 
patriotism of all who go up thither as true friends of the 
country, and^ I think, it would almost keep off the foot of 
the intruder, who would dare to go up as an enemy. Let us 
tell his immediate kindred, that we are all his children. Let 
the nation go with a kind, respectful, but earnest importu- 
nity, which cannot be denied, and tell his widow and his 
children, that their loss is ours too; that he was our friend 
and father, and that the great family begs the privilege 
of watching his grave, even in the people's burial place, 
where God has already placed his ashes. I am sure such 
a suit could not be denied, and I think it would mingle 
well with the services of this day, if all the people were to 
solemnize it farther by signing one great national petition to 
the family for the boon, and thus affording to that house 



10 

another opportunity of laying the whole country under ob- 
ligations to it. 

There is another subject, which I would like to urge, if I 
had the voice, upon all my countrymen to-day. This day 
— which God has sent us so beautiful from Heaven, as if 
tie would chase away by its brightness the gloom which 
the public calamity has thrown over our minds — I would 
have signalized by another move of the nation. I would 
have another great paper signed by all the people to-day. 
But it should be in the tone of sovereigns speaking to their 
public servants. It should say that the nation will admin- 
ister upon the President's estate, and deem itself highly- 
favored in being permitted to assume all its obligations, and 
make up all its losses, and this, in a manner commensurate 
to the greatness and glory of the state. Not as if we were 
conferring a cold, grudging charity — not as if we were trying 
to pay a debt, which is beyond all price, and which can 
never be paid with money — but in the spirit of a just, gene- 
rous, great people, seeking to render a tribute of respectful 
and affectionate homage, as honorable to the nation which 
offers it, as to the house which shall receive it, in the name 
of its illustrious head now gone. Nor should it be done in 
any stinted measure, limiting it to the poor meanness of 
one year's salary. Has this nation grown niggardly? Once, 
the representatives of the people, going directly from their 
bosom, could order the national ships across the ocean for 
the accommodation of the "Nation's Guest." Nay, as a tri- 
bute of personal respect, and an expression of public grati- 
tude for his services in the early struggle for liberty by the 



11 

eolouies, Congress assumed the obligations of our fathers, 
and voted him, in the name of the people, a princely domain 
of lands, and eight years' salary of a President in money. 
La Fayette was an early and steady friend of the country, 
and as such deserved its gratitude : and, if I remember right- 
ly, but one voice in Congress, and hardly another among all 
the people was raised against this expression of public re- 
gard. But what did the people owe to that gallant friend of 
liberty, more than their debt to him who has now left us? 
-and what has resulted from the precedent, but national 
glory ? and who does not to-day regard it as a proud exam- 
ple ? I am ashamed of the press, when I read its pitiful 
propositions on this subject. It is one of the most prominent 
characteristics of the American people that they are capable 
of forming great conceptions. They are quick to appreciate 
them, and ever ready to carry them out. It makes me re- 
joice in my country, and thank God that it is mine. 

But I have already pursued these reflections farther, per- 
haps, than is proper, in view of the important services which 
are before us. Our Chief Magistrate has invited all the 
people to spend this day in religious exercises, and those 
of a peculiarly grave and solemn kind. We are here to pur- 
sue them. In view of such a recommendation to such ser^ 
vices, I have thought of no Scripture vvhich could more ap~ 
propriately engage our attention, tiian that which you v/i\[ 
find recorded in, 



1^ 



John, 18 chap, 11 v. The cup which my father hath 

GIVEN ME, shall I NOT DRINK IT? 

These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which, 
besides what we shall presently notice, he expresses his 
disapprobation of Peter's vehement impatience. Simon Pe- 
ter, as he was one of the earliest, so he was one of the most 
attached friends and disciples of the Saviour. A man, as I 
suppose, of superior intellect — certainly, of a generous dis- 
position — if unsteady, yet noble and ardent — too much in- 
fluenced by sudden impulses, and often betrayed into serious 
indiscretions, as men of his general cast of character are 
apt to be — of which we frequently observe examples among 
ourselves. Indeed, so much do the people of this country 
partake of such a disposition, that a reproof of Peter's too 
hasty, though generous temerity, is peculiarly appropriate to 
many of ourselves. Would that we had his honest and sin- 
cere attachment to his Lord ! For, although he once denied 
him, and once, in later times, dissembled, he was an honest 
man, and truly loved his master. 

On the occasion before us, a band of officers and men 
from the Chief Priests and Pharisees, led bv the traitor 
Judas — who had already sold his Lord, and was now come 
to betray him with a kiss — had followed Jesus to the garden, 
where he was accustomed to resort with his disciples. Thith- 
er, as to a retired spot, where he might be seized without a 
tumult of the people, they came to lay their bloody hands 
upon him. This was their hour, and the power of dark- 
ness ; and Jesus was ready to be led away to the work 



13 

which he had come from Heaven to do. But, as if he would 
at once explain that work in its nature and design, he stood 
forth before his followers, representing in their small but 
honored band, the countless multitude of those, who in all 
coming time were to believe on his name through their word, 
and said, "I have told ye that I am he. If, therefore, ye 
seek me, let these go their way." "That the saying, says 
the Evangelist, might be fulfilled which he spake, of them 
which thou gavest me have I lost none." What a clear, 
beautiful, unchangeable illustration is this, my brethren, of 
the blessed doctrine of the gospel, that Jesus took the place 
of his people, and suffered in their stead, so that none can 
ever lay any thing to the charge of God's elect. 

It was, perhaps, the tender concern for his disciples, thus 
expressed by Jesus, and as to its full meaning, imperfectly- 
understood by them, that robbed Peter of all self-command. 
His generous bosom had already swelled with feelings which 
he could scarce suppress, when he saAV the fierce, yet ti'emb- 
ling band of ruffians — for it is said that when they saw Jesus, 
they went backward and fell to the ground — and when he 
looked upon Judas, as he tried to smile through the cloud, 
which his base sentiments, and the beginnings of his re- 
morse had already spread over his features. But when Je- 
sus laid bare his own bosom for the stroke, that his disci- 
ples might go safe, I think it was then that Peter could bear 
no more. His heart was full of emotions which could not be 
repressed. And I am almost ready to believe that half the 
men in this vast assembly, if they had been there, with no 
more than Peter's knowledge, and all Peter's love, would 
have felt as he did, and perhaps have acted just so too. 



14 

Unhappily, he had a sword — he was scarce conscious that 
he laid his hand upon it — he had hardly touched it, till the 
hasty weapon started from its scabbard. It was the very 
scene, if misunderstood as to its great designs, to rouse 
every indignant feeling of the bosom, and make even the 
swords spring forth ! 

But Peter was all wrong. He ought to have understood 
his master better. And Jesus, to set him right, having 
doubtless by his unseen power kept him from the deed of 
murder, healed by a touch the person whom he had wound- 
ed, and said, "Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup 
which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? " 

You perceive that much is suggested by this Scripture 
which we cannot examine to-day, even if it all suited the 
occasion. This, however, stands out from the passage, our 
Saviour's most beautiful and sublime example of pa- 
tient SUBMISSIOiV TO the WHOLE WILL OF GoD. 

The dispensations of Divine Providence, whether kind or 
severe, towards nations, no less than individuals, are spoken 
of in Scripture under the figure of a cup, which God pours 
out for men, and gives to them to drink. As (Ps. 23, 5,) 
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 
enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth 
over." (Ps. 75, 7—8,) "But God is the judge. He putteth 
down one, and setteth up another. For in the hand of the 
Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red ; it is full of mix- 
lure, and he poureth out of the same, but the dregs thereof, 
all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink 
them." (Isai. 57, 17,) "Awake, awake, stand up, oh Jeru- 
salem, which hast drunk at the iiand of the Lord the cup of« 



15 

his fury — thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of tremb- 
ling, and wrung them out."* And so frequently through the 
Scriptures. Thus, in our text, our Lord speaks of the sor- 
rows which were laid upon him, under the same figure, 
while he disclaims with horror the idea that, however bitter, 
the trial was not to be borne with patient and pious submis- 
mission to the Divine will. 

Whence, in attempting a little farther to elucidate this 
Scripture, and apply it to our present circumstances I remark, 

I. That every event is from God. 

Not merely are our enjoyments and richest blessings de- 
rived from his gracious hand, but no calamity comes without 
his bidding. The occurrences of human life are the dispen- 
sations of Divine Providence. And this suggests one of the 
most obvious points of difference between him that believeth 
and an infidel. Even a speculative believer in Christianity 
as divhie, and in the Bible,, therefore, as from God, holds it 
to be a fact that the Almighty orders all events. While the 
true, evangelical, believer devoutly recognizes God's hand in 
every dispensation, and in view of all, looks up to Him, and 
says with the Saviour, "Even so Father, for so it seemed 
good in thy sight." Thus referring every thing to the Di- 
vine sovereignty. 

That events ought to be so referred, the Scriptures expli- 
citly declare. As (Amos 3, 6,) "Shall there be evil in a city 
and the Lord hath not done it?" So again, (Isai. 45, 17,) 
"I form the light, I create darkness, I make peace, and create 
evil. I the Lord do all these things." You remember how 
Job spake under his multiplied and extraordinary calamities, 
some of them immediatelv induced by the hand of man, and 



16 

not all of them, therefore, to be referred directly to the act 
of God. His philosophy was as sound, as his piety was ele- 
vated — indeed piety deserves the name only v/hen it is ra- 
tional — "The Lord gave," he said, "and the Lord hath taken 
away." And a clear recognition of this principle it was 
which enabled him, under the influence of the Holy Spiri\^ 
to add, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." 

In like manner we have the testimony of our Lord, not 
only to the pledge of Divine protection to his people, so 
that the ^-ery hairs of their heads are numbered ; but also to 
that careful supervision of all affairs, which does not suffer 
even a sparrow to fall to the ground without our Father's 
knowledge. 

And this testimony is confirmed, if that were possible, by 
the general opinions of men. Even in the minds of the ob- 
durate, who have least sense of religion, and of those who 
afford no practical evidence of its influence over their feel- 
ings and behaviour, there is something that responds to the 
voice of God when he speaks through his Providence. So 
that, in some instances, all men are obliged to be still, and 
say that God has done it, for the conscience will admit no 
other solution. It is related — I do not vouch for the accura- 
cy of the statement, but I have so heard it related as to 
credit the story, that when the Asiatic cholera was travelling 
on in its desolating march through the old world, an American 
physician met it in a city of Europe, where it prevailed with 
less than its accustomed violence, and upon his return to 
America, undertook, with great confidence and precision, to 
assert its causes, and to teach the method of its cure — de- 
claring that it was impossible for the disease to prevail in 



17 

region where ho lived — the causes not operating there, and 
that if it should appear, it would be in so mild a form and 
so easily manageable, that he would pledge a limb from his 
own person, for every instance of its mortality in his town. 
Presently it reached our shores, and gliding on in its silent, 
terrific, irresistible progress, it sought out the abode of our 
traveller. In that very tovv'n it swept av/ay nearly one-tenth 
of the people, and in the general consternation, and his own 
manifest impotence, he was compelled to give it up. Con- 
fessing that he could do nothing with it, for it began — where 
other diseases closed — with death ! v/hile all men said, of a 
truth the hand of God is in it ! 

But it is not only on such appalling occasions, that God 
vindicates his matchless power, and universal control, as He 
wrings from the v/icked their reluctant homage. There is, 
if I do not greatly err, something in the reason and con- 
science of every man that makes him see the hand of God in 
events, until powerful influences of sin have blinded his 
eyes, and seared his conscience as Vv^ith a hot iron. 

I am rejoiced to be able, as it is in point here, to remark, 
and as you all have doubtless observed with high gratification, 
that the cabinet officers of the government, in announcing 
to the country the death of the Chief Magistrate, recog- 
nized in the most distinct manner, that melancholy event, as 
an act of "an Ail-wise Providence." So his successor iri 
assuming the reigns of government, in like speech, calls it 
"the dispensation of an All-wise Providence," and assures 
the people, that for a just and happy administration of their 
affairs, he confides in the "care of an everwatchful and over- 
ruling Providence ;" while all the people speak of these 
3 



18 

events, as the dispensations of God, There is the nation's 
testimony to the particular dispensations of Divine Provi- 
vidence! 

Nations, then, no less than individuals, are subject to His 
dispensations. Nay, I may add, especially so, because men's 
national relations are dissolved in the grave. Men will go 
up to the judgment, each in his solitary accountability. In 
their great associated relations they are confined to this 
world, and in that capacity, receive their awards only on 
earth. 

Nor does the universal and irresistible control of events 
by the Almighty make him, in any sense, a partner in the 
crimes of men. For says the Apostle Peter upon this very 
subject, (Acts 2, 23,) "Him" — referring to Jesus Christ, who 
had just been cruelly murdered, — "Him, being delivered by 
the determinate counsel, and foreknowledge of God, ye have 
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain," — thus 
asserting distinctly and with the utmost positiveness this 
proposition, that God may appoint a certain end by an abso- 
lute and irresistible decree, and yet men may greatly offend 
Him, by the inferior agency which they employ for its ac- 
complishment. Here is a clear assertion, therefore, of the 
Divine sovereignty, in the control and ordering of events 
which human hands work out — and an assertion, no less 
clear, of the unrestrained freedom, and the deep responsibili- 
ty of human agency, in the very events which God had pur- 
posed. 

. Then God is a great king over all his creatures, each 
one of whom according to its intelligence is accountable to 
Jiim. And for men, it is clear, that the rule of conduct and 



19 

of accountability is not tlie secret purpose or decree of God, 
but his law written upon the heart, and still more clearly in his 
word. And hence, though a man's conduct were tending in 
its influence to a result both desirable and necessary as or- 
dained of God, it might be extremely wicked. When Cy- 
rus, as we read in the prophets, was achieving by his valor, 
and his skill, the great events, which God's righteous Provi- 
dence had ordered, it was as a servant, who knew not the 
master in Heaven — and none can tell what varied and ex- 
treme wickedness may have been all the time at work in his 
heart, nor how many improper acts may have obscured the 
glory of his remarkable career. 

We can all perceive that the just judgments of God 
may come down on any wicked people, and be God's just 
judgments still, although contrived, as far as man contrived 
them, in perfidy and ambition, and executed amid the cruel 
and fierce display of the worst passions of our nature. And 
so, in the best gifts that God bestows on men, the same base 
passions may rankle in the bosoms, and even burst forth in 
the lives of those, whom he has made the almoners of his 
blessings. God is holy in all his ways, whatever man may 
be, even when he is helping, as an instrument in the Divine 
hand, to accelerate God's "bright designs, and work his 
sovereign will." If it had pleased God, that his servant, 
whose death we mourn, had fallen in his high place by an 
assassin's hand, rather than by disease, no man, in his senses, 
would have said, that it was any the less a dispensation of 
Divine Providence — nor that God was less holy, for the 
wickedness of the murderer whom he permitted to shed 
such honored blood — nor that the murderer was less wicked, 



20 

and less deserved the extremity of punishment. The sov- 
ereignty of God does not affect, much less destroy, the free 
agency of man, or his strict accountability. 

II. In the second place, I observe that, the dispensa- 
tions OF Providence, no matter how trying, are to be 

BORNE with patient AND RESIGNED SUBMISSION TO THE 
SOVEREIGN WILL 0? GoD. 

This is the very meaning and aim of our religious exer- 
cises to-day. To what do our services tend, if", while we 
acknowledge God's powerful, v/ise and righteous govern- 
ment of the universe, vv^e do not consent to his will? What 
avails it that we confess our sins, that we deprecate his 
well merited displeasure, that v/e implore his protection, his 
forgiveness, and his grace, if yet we be unwilling that He 
should do what seemeth him good? Why, my brethren, 
however w^e may appear to each other in these services, they 
are stamped with the ineffaceable mark of hypocrisy before 
God, if we do not bow v/ith rational and devout submission 
to His holy will. I do not speak of a cold insensibility — I 
do not mean a stoical indifference — nor that frigid philoso- 
phy, with which some men try to brace up their minds to en- 
dure the destiny, to which fate consigns them, as they madly 
call it. Nor do I mean that heroic and invincible fortitude, 
so noble in its place, with which the brave do sometimes 
bear the ills of life. But I mean that sentiment — sent to us 
from Heaven — v/hich Jesus breathed — which none have 
known who are not taught of God — that which enables its 
possessor, from the heart and in all things to say, the will of 
the Lord be done ! 



21 

Such a spirit, it has been intimated, is peculiarly appro- 
priate to us to-day — met as we are for the solemn expression 
of our sense of calamity and sin. As a nation and as indi- 
viduals, we are fasting before God — humbling ourselves un- 
der his hand laid upon us in this public stroke. The very 
spirit that we should cherish is that of profound submission 
to the expressions of God's will in the solemn acts of His 
providence. 

An argument for the earnest cultivation of such a spirit — 
for I speak to those who demand and can appreciate a rea- 
son — may be derived, 

1. From what has been already insisted on, that all events, 
even our heaviest calamities, are to he regarded as the disuensa- 
iions of God, They could not have occurred without his 
permission. And all that enables us to perceive of any event, 
that God has ordered it, compels us also to say, "The Lord 
is righteous in all his vv^ays, and holy in all his works" — "Just 
and true are thy ways, oh thou King of Saints." "I was 
dumb," sa3^s David, "I opened not my mouth because thou 
didst it." If the Lord be God, a God of wisdom, benevo- 
lence, justice, holiness and truth, then men ought so to stand 
in awe of Him, as to praise Him for what he does, no less 
than for what He is ; and no voice of complaint against any 
of His acts, nor even the feeblest sighing of the spirit, in the 
way of murmuring against Him, ought ever to be heard. 

2. Men ought to he silent and suhmissive hefore God, un- 
der their severest affiictions induced by his hand, hecause they 
have been icell deserved. 

Who of us can this day lay his hand on his heart, and, 
with an honest and clear conscience, say that he has not de- 



22 

served the chastisements with which he has been visited ! 
No matter of what kind, no matter how frequent, or severe, 
they have been hghter than we deserved! 

And what has this nation merited at the hand of God ? 
Are there no national sins, no national wrongs, oppression, 
injustice? "If thou seest, saith the wise man, (Eccles. 5, 
8,) the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of 
judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter, 
for He that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there 
be that are higher than they." God has declared that He will 
vindicate the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Does 
nothing in our history, although we are the professed friends 
of justice and liberty among all people, prove us as a nation 
to be guilty of oppression, before the Judge of all the earth? 
Can the people of this land appeal to God for the righteous- 
ness of their course towards those whom our Fathers found 
the possessors of the soil before them — or those whom the 
cupidity and inhuman cruelty of men have forced hither into 
bondage from other climes ? I pray God to spare us! For I 
fear it is a great account, which we have yet to settle with 
Him, for our conduct to the red man and the black — neither 
of Mdiom we have treated as our brethren, although God has 
declared, that He made "of one blood all nations of men to 
dwell on all the face of the earth." 'Twas one of our most dis- 
tinguished countrymen, I believe — himself no Christian, nor 
even a friend to Christianity — whom men love to call the apos- 
tle of liberty — who said in allusion to these subjects, "I trem- 
ble for my country, when I reflect that God is just." Can the 
eye of infinite purity behold, without offence, the madness 
of party spirit, and the furious asperities of public feeling, in 



23 

our political contests ? Such that it has has been truly said, 
if half the things that partisans say of each other be true, 
they are all villains. Is our unparrehed worlclliness no sin? 
Does the tide of intemperance, of legalized vice and mur- 
der, that rolls over our land, send up no sound to Heaven 
that God will hear ? Have we no account to settle with 
him, for our perpetual violation of his holy Sabbath ? And 
how much of our glory have we ascribed to God ? We 
praise our fathers — we laud ourselves — we boast of our in- 
stitutions of government and our progress in science, and 
the arts. But how little do we praise God ! 'Twould be a 
long list, if all were spread out — but in view of only these, 
surely we have reason to fear that God will deem us worthy 
of his rebuke, and will say of us, as He said of those be- 
fore us, "Shall I not visit for these things, shall not my soul 
be avenged on such a nation as this? " So our Chief Magis- 
trate seems to think, if we may judge from the terms of his 
appeal to the people to humble themselves before God, and 
confess their sins to-day. Well, therefore, as I conceive, 
does it become us to be submissive before God, when He 
lays his hand upon us, seeing that we have deserved so much. 
3. Our submission ought to he deepened, and our humiliation 
rendered still more devout and patient, as our gratitude ought to 
abound, when we remember the mercies with which God has fol- 
lowed us as a people. I think the bosom of this nation ought 
to swell to-day, and the lips of all the people ought to break 
forth into singing, because of the manifold goodness of God. 
Notwithstanding all, that in the judgment of any, may dis- 
tress the country and cloud our prospects, what rich national 
blessings do we enjoy — wide spread dominion — the respect 



24 

of nations — peace with all — xmtrammelcd liberty — the diffu- 
sion of knowledge — the true religion ! And these are but 
items in the catalogue of blessings. Even with this late na- 
tional bereavement how many mercies mingle ! To mention 
but one of a political nature — how perfect and hence how 
glorious and full of promise, the tranquillity with which our 
public affairs have been conducted in this new trial of the 
system ! The present Chief Magistrate has succeeded as 
quietly to office as if he had only left the chair of state, to 
resume it after an hour's absence ! Not a jar — not a mur- 
mur! The only semblance of agitation is the noise of the 
the sighs of people, as they breathe them over the grave of 
one President, and the shouts of their triumph as they salute 
another ! He, I am bold to say, is no patriot, who does not 
rejoice in this token of the strength of the government, and 
the permanency of its institutions. 

But I cannot forbear to congratulate you on another mercy 
here. I refer to the clear, abundant and doubtless sincere, 
and heartfelt testimony, which our rulers have borne to the 
true religion. First, there is that in the Inaugural Address 
of the late President. I am yet to learn that any of our 
former rulers has borne just such an one — penned too, it is 
said, by a most remarkable and touching coincidence in the 
very chamber where he was born — where his pious mother 
had often, in his childhood, retired with him for prayer — and 
laying her hand upon his young head commended him to 
God — and thus, it may be, fixed in his mind impressions of 
religion that he never wholly lost, and which, after so many 
years of absence returning to that hallowed spot, he there 
prepared to announce to all mankind. I am ready to believe 



25 

that God's holy angels, who used to attend his pious parent 
when she led him there for prayer — who had hovered around 
his path through life, and guarded him from danger on the 
field of battle — met him as^ain in that sweet, sacred cham- 
ber, and catching the sentiment, as it arose in his heart, be- 
fore yet his pen could trace its lines, flew away with the tid- 
ings to the skies! And yet, perhaps, little did even they 
think that day, that God would send them down so soon to 
bear to his presence the spirit of his servant! It was upon 
that solemn day, when he stood up, as it were, in the face of 
the world, to assume the government of this greatest of re- 
publics, and to take, therefore, the most august station among 
men, that he said, 

" I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and 
" solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a 
" profound reverence for the Christian Religion, and a tho- 
" rough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a 
" just sense of religious responsibility, are essentially con- 
" nected with all true and lasting happiness : and to that 
" good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and 
" religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the 
" labors of our fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us in- 
" stitutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other 
" people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest 
" of our beloved country in all future time." 

It has been stated, on such authority as I do not hesitate" 
to credit, a statement which under other circumstances it 
would be improper to disclose, but since he has gone from- 
us, the fact, like his character is public property, and when 
authenticated becomes an important testimony — that on the; 



26 

day of his inauguration both before and after that event, he 
sought the retirement of his chamber, and there implored the 
Divine blessing under his great cares, and besought that wis- 
dom which Cometh down from above. 

One of his earliest acts thereafter, was to purchase with 
the public funds, and to be kept in the executive mansion, as 
the property of the people, a copy of the word of God — de- 
claring it to be his sense of propriety in the case, that the 
Bible ought to be a part of the furniture of the President's 
house, put into his hands, as it were by the people them- 
selves, to be his guide in administering their affairs! 

I remember to have read some weeks ago, with equal 
gratification and surprise, accompanying the annunciation of 
his arrival at the seat of government, a distinct apology for 
its occurrence on the holy Sabbath, the editor stating that it 
was a necessity arising from some casuahty and deeply pain- 
ful to the President elect. The public statement was proba- 
bly made without his knowledge, but no discreet gentleman 
would have made it, without a very distinct acquaintance 
with his views on that subject. It was such a testimony to 
the sacredness of the day of rest, and the value of the reli- 
gion which enjoins it, as ought to be as gratifying to all 
Christians, as it is rare among our public men. 

The late President was not a member of the Church, by- 
public profession of his faith in Christ — and his testimony to 
religion is in some respects the more interesting and remark- 
able on that account. It is understood, however, that he 
was on the eve of making such a profession, when the op- 
portunity was lost to him by death. It is farther stated upon 
unquestionable authority, derived indeed from his own lips, 



27 

ihat for several years past he had greatly deshed to have a 
visible place among the people of God ; and that he was de- 
terred from becoming a member of the Church only by con- 
siderations drawn from his position before the country. In 
this, doubtless, he erred. It had been better for him to con- 
fess Christ before men, and leave them to impugn his mo- 
tives as they might see fit, than from any such considerations 
to neglect a command so tender, solemn and universal, as 
that which requires the friends of the Son of God to com- 
memorate his dying love. But every one can perceive how 
easy it was for a purely honest and delicate mind to be mis- 
led on this subject in his circumstances. And justice, not to 
say charity, but that simple justice, which all are wiUing to 
render to the dead at least, requires us to suppose that he 
was prompted, by reverence for religion and the fear of im- 
pairing its credit among men through their misconstruction 
of his -mofives, to deny himself so long the privilege of a 
public connection with the Church of our Divine Lord. 
"E'en the faihng leaned to virtue's side." And the whole 
matter furnishes a strong expression of his sense of the pu- 
rity and value of true religion. 

Reference has already been made to the early declaration 
of his successsor that he relied upon God alone for ability 
to administer the government aright. I have also read in 
your hearing his recommendation to the people to * observe 
this National Fast. You have not only been struck^with the 
fact, so unusual in our history, of the appointment of such a 
day — but you have admired the terms in which the request 
has been preferred. It breathes no sentiments that are not as 
just and devout, as they are patriotic. I know not whether 



28 

the President professes to be a Christian in the evangelical 
sense. But I see, and I thank God for it, that he is not 
ashamed to be known to revere the gospel. He has a strong 
sense of religion, and a conscience that has felt the powerful 
impressions of truth, or else he has formed a large estimate 
of the hold of religion on the hearts of the people. If he 
have not the holy fear of God before his own eyes, he be- 
lieves that his fellow-citizens have before theirs. If he do 
not love the Saviour himself, he is sure that multitudes of 
the people do. And in either case, it is a testimony to reli- 
gion worthy cf public and grateful acknowledgment this day. 
Our honored Chief Magistrate has proclaimed us, to all men, 
a Christian people. There is more than that vague and 
heartless recognition of the Almighty, to which the nation 
has been accustomed in its rulers, but which has touched no 
heart. We have now an example set us of acknowledging 
the Lord to be our God, in a manner that is rational, scrip- 
tural and perfectly intelhgible. V/e are bidden to come be- 
fore God, as a Christian people should, and heartily to con- 
fess our sins, while w^e mourn over our national calamity. I 
declare that I can scarce mourn over any thing that brings 
forth, and apparently so cordially, such a tribute to the re- 
ligion that Jesus gave the world. No one in this country 
desires to see any form of religion established by law. But 
all ought to rejoice in every thing that may impress a sense 
of rehgious obHgation on the minds of the people : and reve- 
rence for the true rehgion, and distinct recognition of the 
Providence of God, thus solemnly expressed by our rulers, 
may help to impress the public mind on these great subjects, 
while they show that there are already no little religious 



29 

feeling and influence in the country. The appointment of 
this National Fast is of itself an interesting tribute to 
our holy religion. I think that alone, and especially con- 
nected with its associated events, it furnishes a reason this 
day for patient submission to the will of God, because this is 
a great mercy which has accompanied our national visitation. 
If our calamity be heavy, we cannot deny that much kind- 
ness follows it. Our Lord said, "The cup which my Father 
hath given me, shall I not drink it? " 'Tis mixed in our case 
too, and offered by our Father's hand, and that is reason 
enough why we should drink it. 

These reflections applv with equal force to individuals in 
their private afflictions. If, then, there be one broken-heart- 
ed child of sorrow here to-day, let such an one be comforted 
by the divine example before us. Let such an one contem- 
plate his trials, as ordered by God, who tempers the wind to 
the shorn lamb, who will not lay on his children more than 
they can bear, nor give them a cup too bitter for them to 
drink, but will make even their afflictions to work out for 
them an exceeding weight of glory. Let such an one come 
to Jesus, who is both the example and the sacrifice for his 
people ; and relying upon his atonement, and endeavoring to 
imitate his example, and catch his spirit, let him lift up his 
head, and dry up his tears, and say with the ancient servan 
of God, "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul, and why art 
thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God : for I shall yet 
praise him, who is the heaUh of my countenance and my 

God." 



30 



(While these sheets were passing through the press, the 
following was observed in the newspapers, and seems to be 
sufficiently interesting on many accounts to justify its use in 
filling up the space which would otherwise be left unoccu- 
pied.) 

Death of President Harrison — Meeting of Americans 

IN London. 

At a numerous meeting of the citizens of the United States 
in London, at the residence of the American Minister, on 
Saturday, the 1st day of May, 1841, in consequence of the 
recent intelligence received of the death of the late President 
of the United States, the following proceedings took place : 

On motion, the American Minister was requested to pre- 
side, and the American Consul, Col. Thomas Aspinwall, to 
act as Secretary. 

On taking the chair, Mr. Stevenson stated very briefly the 
object of the meeting. He had assembled his countrymen, 
he said, for the purpose of performing a solemn and impres- 
sive duty, which he was quite sure could not fail to be grati- 
fying to every American heart. It was to express their deep 
sympathy and regret for the loss which their country had 
sustained in the death of its Chief Magistrate, and to pay the 
only tribute of respect to his memory, which it was in their 
power to offer. That wliilst Iheir whole country were in- 



31 

dulging, with one accord, their feehngs of grief and respect 
under this national bereavement, it v/as due to themselves, as 
American citizens in a foreign country, to add the homage of 
their respect, and mingle their sympathies with those of their 
common country. No where, probably, could this with more 
propriety be done than in the house of the representative of 
the American people. The occasion, Mr. Stevenson said, 
was one which forbade every thing like studied eulogy. It 
belonged less to discussion than to feeling, and he should, 
therefore, not attempt to express by words what he was very 
confident the hearts of all present would much better supply. 
When they reflected, however, upon the peculiar circum- 
stances under which this death had taken place ; that it was 
the first instance in the history of their country in which its 
Chief Magistrate had died during the period of service ; that 
he had been cut ofT in the first moment of his elevation to 
power, and in a manner so sudden and unexpected, it was 
indeed calculated to increase the force of their sympathy, 
and to mark with a deep sense the uncertainty of human life 
and the instability of all human pursuits. It was a striking 
instance of Providential interference in the affairs of man,, 
full of moral and religious instruction, and well calculated t&' 
reach the hearts of all. 

The following resolutions were then submitted by him to- 
the meeting: 

1. Resolved, That the citizens of the United States now 
present have received with feelings of deep sensibility, the 
painful intelligence of the sudden death of William Henry 
Harrison, President of the United States, which took place 
on the 4th of April, at the seat of the Federal Government. 



32 



2. Resolved, That a? a m^vV r.f 
"- deceased, we wHl wear badges If """' 
-nths, and that U be recc.ende to mr '" ^ 
'0 do the same. <=«untrymen abroac 

3. iJ«*<,Z«,<?, Tliat copies of these r..nl .■ 
ceedings be transmitted to Mr, Ha . """ =""' ''™^ 

condolence in the late affl^t . "' ^''"' "" ^'""^^ 

vidence ^^ bereavement by Divine P,o^ 



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